Well, I think it’s safe to say this season has taken a turn for the worse. I really don’t even know where to start. Half of our team is hurt. Our defense couldn’t stop a Division 3 offense. Jayden is made of glass. I fear we may have used up years worth of good luck during our conference championship run last season. We are in absolute shambles and there is no sign of anything getting better; we play in Arrowhead Monday tonight.
I don’t even want to recap last weekend. We got boatraced. They marched down the field on their first drive and the game might as well have been over from there. Every blog is blending into essentially the same theme. I’ll save you all the time reading about how bad our defense is. What I would like to talk about is how I am surprised Joe Whitt hasn’t been fired yet. I understand from DQ’s perspective that it is hard getting rid of someone you have worked with for the past five years but someone has to be held accountable. I will go out on a limb and say DQ isn’t throwing himself under the bus. I predict he is gone by 3pm tomorrow. I would be shocked if he is still coaching after the Lions game.
I have deboarded the Adam Peter’s bandwagon. He screwed Joe this season. Our defense was awful last year but nobody cared because we won every shootout. It’s safe to say Adam assumed this season would go like last considering the players he brought in this offseason. Javon Kinlaw was the big signing for our defense. After signing him, I texted a friend who is a Jets fan asking if I should be excited. He responded “Nah rotational piece. High upside guy that never put it together.” Well, through seven weeks his response unfortunately seems to be aging very well. So far, our return on investment for the 15 million we are paying this season has been 14 tackles with 3 for a loss. We are paying over a million dollars per tackle. Let’s hope he contributes more tonight than just an entertaining postgame interview. The best player Adam brought in defensively was Trey Amos. Otherwise, he essentially ignored defense for the whole draft. Our 6th round linebacker has yet to suit up. Given the current situation with Bobby and Frankie, I don’t understand why we don’t give Kain a shot.
Health is the main reason this season has gotten derailed. It is depressing looking at our depth chart. Every week we lose another contributor for the season. We are now without our best defensive end, Dorrance Armstrong. He was leading the team in sacks and tackles for loss. The already non-existent pass rush became even more non-existent. The unfortunate reality with our defense is the fact that even without injuries; we would still suck. Thankfully, our offense is a different story, but Jayden, Terry, and Deebo can’t get on the field together. We will eventually have the trio back, but the question is if they’ll come back with enough games left to save the season.
The worst part about this year has been the expectation. All my life we have entered the vast majority of seasons already knowing we were going to suck. We were just excited to watch football and if we made the playoffs then it was a successful season. It’s not a good feeling starting a year thinking we’re a contender then after week 7 don’t even believe the playoffs are a possibility. I spent all week accepting defeat tonight which does relatively make our situation better. It helps adopt the belief that we have nothing to lose. It’s like playing with house money but just the complete opposite kind I talked about last season.
This is the match up everyone was hoping for when the schedule released. Heisman winner and one-time first alternate probowler Marcus Mariota vs. a second team academic All-American who is only really known for the two super bowls he has lost. All week I was under the impression we had absolutely no chance. But, for whatever reason, I woke up this morning believing we are going to win this game. This is solely because of one thing, the public. At the moment, 92% of the moneyline bets are on the Chiefs. This game might as well be the NFL vs. Vegas. We are already down 7 points because of the refs, but Vegas is on the phone getting those points back at this moment.
Does this have the opportunity to be the worst bet of my life? Absolutely. However, we’ve had crazier wins. We’ve taken down the undefeated Eagles and Steelers within the last 5 years with much worse teams. Luke McCaffrey +1200 to score and +5500 first touchdown are both great bets considering how often he’s found the endzone this year. Lastly, I will be taking Mariota to throw 2 touchdowns and 200 yards. The game script doesn’t matter here. We either win because he balls out or he’s throwing all game playing catch up. Both sides point to betting on Marcus.
This is a benefit of waiting until game day to post the blogs. I always have a much different attitude the day of games than I do during the weeks. To be honest, when I proof read this in the morning it was depressing. I decided to go a different route and get rid of a lot of it. This one was definitely an outlier given we are going into Arrowhead in primetime without Jayden. Do I think we will win this game? I do not. But, I do think we are capable of winning it. Hope can be a dangerous thing. But, cautiously optimistic hope is the best attitude one can have at the moment. Wishing everyone a great week. Looking forward to writing back after we shock the world tonight.
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter